Anyone who claims that it’s fun to see your own experiences reflected on screen has not endured the experience of being an indie film journalist watching the opening scene of Travis Wood and Alex Mallis’ “The Travel Companion.” The film begins with a painfully awkward recreation of a Q&A after a block of shorts at a small film festival. As someone who has participated in far too many comparable events, it was hard not to be both amazed at how well the filmmakers captured the cringe-inducing details — the rambling questions that don’t actually contain a question, the generic platitudes from filmmakers trying to sound smarter than they are, the awkward shoehorning of various crew members into conversations that have nothing to do with their craft — and depressed by the realization that it really does look like that from the audience too.
That attention to detail about the lower rungs of today’s indie ecosystem permeates the entire movie, elevating “The Travel Companion” above the typical fray of small films about filmmakers trying to make their first small films. It’s not entirely safe from cliches — don’t worry, there are still meandering discussions about balancing artistic ambition with financial strife and the general uncertainty that comes with being young and creative. But Wood, Mallis, and co-writer Weston Auburn satirize the subtle ways that aspiring filmmakers, programmers, and cinephiles talk to each other so effectively that the film should charm its intended audience.
Like so many films about filmmaking, “The Travel Companion” begins with an aimless artist type trying to figure out his life. Simon (Tristan Turner) is a struggling would-be documentarian who is still coasting on his thesis short while teasing a sprawling follow-up film that he may or may not ever get around to finishing. He lives in those liminal social circles where every unemployed filmmaker has “a lot of exciting things in the works.” Every short is a proof-of-concept for a feature, everyone has a major A-lister that they can’t reveal circling their project, and anyone who can’t bring themselves to finish a script is planning to shoot a semi-improvised project that really comes together in the editing room.
But Simon has one unique thing going for him: his roommate Bruce (Anthony Oberbeck) works as a scheduler for a major airline and has designated Simon as his “travel companion” for the year. That means that he can book Simon a free standby ticket on any flight, allowing his broke and aimless friend to spend his free time traversing the globe. It’s as good of a deal as a starving artist can reasonably expect to get, but it comes to a halt when Bruce starts dating Beatrice (Naomi Asa), a more successful filmmaker who might be a reluctant nepo baby, and starts giving her the free tickets instead.
The romance vs. bromance angle sends the story down some predictable paths, forcing Simon to confront the value of his life of constantly jetting off to new cities to avoid how little he has waiting for him at home. But even if the film feels narratively small at times, it remains watchable thanks to admirable ability to capture the specific absurdities of its niche audience’s subculture. That niche audience that includes me and, in all likelihood if you’re reading this, you.
Indie films about indie filmmaking are a tired trope for a reason, but it brings me pleasure to say that “The Travel Companion” is one of the better ones in recent years. Everyone has to start off making movies about something, and “The Travel Companion” captures the bullshitting, navel gazing, and crushing anxiety of the film world so well that it’s easy to see a future where they find even bigger success by applying their observational skills to broader topics. As much as they understand the minds of directionless filmmakers, there’s no reason to believe they’ll join that group.
Grade: B
An Oscilloscope Labs release, “The Travel Companion” opens at BAM Rose Cinema on Friday, April 10, with more cities and festival showings in the coming months.
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